Although I had managed to have a pretty decent day's birding the previous day, the weather forecast for Sunday meant a long lie-in was on the cards and not much likelihood of getting out anywhere. However, I wasn't expecting the offer of a few hours at Loch of Kinnordy with birding buddy, Jacqui Herrington. I'm not sure when I last got out birding with Jacqui, but having helped her with the IDs of birds seen on her recent Mexican holiday she had promised me a birding outing. With Marsh Harrier and Osprey seemingly back in the area from warmer climes despite 'radio silence' on the ADBC grapevine, I knew it was a good chance to get those 2 species on the year-list. Jacqui arranged to pick me up at around 1400, so I got organised and hoped the rain would cease in time for me to walk to our pre-arranged rendezvous point.
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| Marsh Harrier |
I headed out at just before 1350. Unsurprisingly there weren't too many birds around en route with Woodpigeon and Feral Pigeon plus Herring Gull kicking off the list. An overflying Starling was next followed by a Carrion Crow perched on a roof. A pair of calling Oystercatchers circled noisily as I approached the pick-up point. Nothing else was added before Jacqui arrived a few minutes later, and off we went. A Pied Wagtail was by the roadside near Glamis, with Rooks and Pheasants in fields a it further on. A Jackdaw was on a chimney in the village but there were no further additions until we reached the RSPB reserve near Kirriemuir.
Unsurprisingly given the weather the car park was rather quiet, with the majority of photographers seemingly preferring a bit of sunshine before even attempting a photo. Me, I just make the most of whatever opportunities I have, sometimes I get lucky and "bad" weather can make a photo far more interesting and different from everyone else's shot. A Red Squirrel plus a Robin and a few Chaffinches were near the walkway to the Gullery hide, with Long Tailed Tit and Great Tit being seen just before we entered the hide. Out front were a few Lapwings and Oystercatchers on the bogbean islands, a pair of Shoveler and a Greylag close to the hide among the vegetation to the left.
Once we got settled we scanned around the Loch, picking out a variety of waterfowl - Moorhen, Mallard, Wigeon, Goldeneye, Tufted Duck and Mute Swan. Movement above the reeds turned out to be our first sighting of a female
Marsh Harrier - my first of the year. A few photos were taken as the bird hunted around off to our left before heading back across the Loch spooking some of the ducks including a few Teal we hadn't noticed. The white face of the local Barn Owl peered out from his box on the 'lone pine'. A few minutes later a male Marsh Harrier appeared and he quartered over the reedbed. The female landed in the 'lone pine' and a minute later the male landed on a small bush among the reeds. A Grey Heron flew in and landed on the bogbean giving a good opportunity for a reflection shot or two in the very still waters.
The male Marsh Harrier flew down to investigate the left-overs from a kill of the females that she had been tucking into a short while previously. For some reason the female wasn't impressed and swooped down aggressively to chase him off. Outside in the trees a male Blackbird and a pair of Blue Tits were seen. We decided to wander along to the Swamp hide to see if there was anything to be added from there. There were only a few Wigeon though there were a few birds dotted around across the far side including a few Greylags and Mallards. A pair of Black Headed Gulls were perched on fence-posts at the edge of the reserve. A very repetitive call was finally identified when I spotted a Redshank circling with rapidly flickering wings, obviously a display flight, and something I wasn't conscious of having seen before. Jacqui mentioned that she never managed to get good views of Redpolls and around 10 seconds later a flock of
Lesser Redpolls flew over the Loch and disappeared out of sight. We were hopeful that they might be in the trees when we left the hide, but there was no sign of them, so still no decent views for Jacqui.
We had a walk along to the East hide next, stopping to photograph a Reed Bunting among the reeds next to the boardwalk. A Chiffchaff was calling from somewhere nearby but went unfound. A Song Thrush flew across the path ahead of us. We stopped at the feeders in the hope of maybe a Brambling but drew a blank with that species though Coal Tit, Dunnock and Tree Sparrow were all added. Jacqui spotted a pair of Bullfinches in the trees next to the hide as we went into the East hide. We had been hearing Little Grebes calling throughout the afternoon but had failed to see them. Jacqui spotted a pair by the small island just off to our left. The weather had improved greatly with a patch of blue sky above while all around seemed to be retaining the murky grey of previously. We weren't going to complain though.
I spotted a Buzzard off to the right near the end of the Loch. There was another bit of interaction between the male and female Marsh Harriers but it wasn't clear whether this was friendly or otherwise. A Wren flew into the reeds below the hide. Across the far side of the Loch we watched as the female Marsh Harrier attempted to catch a drake Teal out on the water. The duck kept diving as the raptor hovered a bit then circled around a few feet above the water. Eventually the Teal saw its chance to escape while the Harrier was travelling in the opposite direction and successfully avoided the talons of the bigger bird. Around 10 minutes later my first
Osprey of 2016 arrived over the Loch (Jacqui had seen plenty of them in Cancun) and we watched as it circled and hovered before finally diving into the water in front of the hide, though behind the small island, and emerging with a small-ish Pike which it held firmly in a less than ideal grip by the head and front part of the body. We watched as the bird departed to the south with its catch in the sunshine.
A Lesser Black Backed Gull flew by and a Sand Martin headed in the same direction but at greater speed. The female Marsh Harrier was up again over the reeds across the far side and we watched as she gained a bit of height. As I followed her through the camera viewfinder another large-ish bird appeared in my field of view. It wasn't the expected male Marsh Harrier, but instead a Red Kite. The two tussled above the reeds, the Kite seemed to have the edge on flying ability and never looked particularly troubled by the Harrier. With the time approaching 1745 we decided that it had been a rather good afternoon outing and headed for home.
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| Marsh Harrier |
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| Marsh Harrier |
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| Teal |
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| Marsh Harrier |
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| Greylag Goose |
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| Marsh Harrier |
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| Teal |
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| Marsh Harrier |
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| Marsh Harrier |
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| Marsh Harrier |
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| Wigeon |
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| Mute Swan |
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| Greylag Goose |
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| Marsh Harrier |
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| Mute Swan |
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| Osprey |
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| Osprey |
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| Osprey |
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| Red Kite & Marsh Harrier |
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| Red Kite & Marsh Harrier |
45 species seen (3 year-ticks in bold) - Barn Owl, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Dunnock, Goldeneye, Great Tit, Grey Heron, Greylag Goose, Herring Gull, Jackdaw, Lapwing, Lesser Black Backed Gull,
Lesser Redpoll, Little Grebe, Long Tailed Tit, Mallard,
Marsh Harrier, Moorhen, Mute Swan,
Osprey, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Red Kite, Redshank, Reed Bunting, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Sand Martin, Shoveler, Song Thrush, Starling, Teal, Tree Sparrow, Tufted Duck, Wigeon, Woodpigeon, Wren.
